


You should have left me there to die. Can I sleep in your bed tonight?

by choomchoom



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Episode Tag, F/F, Post-Episode 5.05, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:49:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24360865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choomchoom/pseuds/choomchoom
Summary: Adora isn’t sleeping when Catra shows up outside her door.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 239





	You should have left me there to die. Can I sleep in your bed tonight?

**Author's Note:**

> Look I zeroed in on the line at the beginning of 5.06 that was like “Are you still getting the flashes?” because that means they’ve already talked about it

Adora isn’t sleeping when Catra shows up outside her door. 

She should be. She said goodnight to Glimmer and Bow hours ago. But this room is huge and empty, like the one in Bright Moon she only got used to after several sleepovers with Bow and Glimmer, and she can’t stop staring at the ceiling and thinking. 

She sees familiar clawed feet through the crack under the door, pausing in front of it. For a second she thinks Catra is actually going to knock instead of just burst in. 

She hovers for a second and then walks away. Maybe she had the wrong room?

She’s back a moment later, though, feet facing Adora’s door, tail swishing nervously behind her. 

She leaves again. The third time she comes, Adora opens the door for her. 

Naturally, Catra steps back and hisses. Adora leans against the door and sighs. “What’s going on?”

“You should have left me behind.” 

Adora already knows that isn’t all of it and waits.   


“I can’t sleep, I can’t blink, without getting these - these flashes.”

It’s only now in the half-light of the hallway that Adora notices how exhausted Catra looks. She’s dulled herself to noticing it - Catra usually looks tired and sad, especially lately, but Adora knows that faltering because she notices Catra’s struggling isn’t going to make Catra go easy on her. 

Now, though, things are different. Catra’s eyes are drooping and there are tear tracks clear on her face, and unlike so many times before, she’s actually - sort of - come to Adora for help. She takes a risk and folds Catra into a hug, right there in the hallway. 

Catra takes two sharp jerky breaths against Adora’s neck before pushing her away, which is about what Adora expected. Catra doesn’t resist when Adora capitalizes on the motion to take her hand and pull her into Adora’s room. 

“What do you mean, flashes?” Adora asks. She can’t seem to make herself let go of Catra’s hand, convinced that Catra will flee when she does. 

Catra stays, though, and even when Adora softens her hold, she doesn’t pull away. “It’s just flashes, okay? Of things that happened when I waschipped, and stuff that Horde Prime was thinking about.” Catra pulls her hand away from Adora’s then to wrap her arms around herself. “You shouldn’t have come back for me.”

“You keep saying I should have left you there. What right do you think you have to tell me what to do?” Adora crosses her arms. She’s thrilled that Catra’s here, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t sick of this. 

Catra just folds her arms and turns away, face pinched like she’s about to cry. She’d probably come here expecting Adora to snap at her, but she had to have come for a reason. “What’s going on, Catra?” Adora tries again.

“I just think you should watch me. Make sure I don’t go all Horde Prime again and try to kill all of you while you sleep.”

_If you’re that worried about it, let Entrapta look at the chip_ , is what Adora should say. But Catra is clinging to herself and braced for rejection, and Adora knows her well enough to know that real as the nightmares may be, Catra’s only telling her about them as an excuse. 

“Sure. Stay here,” Adora says as casually as she can manage, turning her back on Catra even as her nervous system screams at her not to. She isn’t even sure whether she’s worried about Catra attacking her or Catra running away. She walks over to the bed and climbs in, trying to hide the way her heart is pounding. 

There’s a few long seconds of Catra just standing there, eyes squeezed shut. Adora waits and tries to breathe until finally, Catra dashes over and fits herself onto the end of Adora’s bed, arms curled tight around herself. 

Adora turns and grins into her pillow. Catra’s breathing is still shaky, like she’s nervous, and Adora resists the urge to reach down and stroke her hair, like she would have back in the Fright Zone. Now, she’s too afraid that the familiar gesture of comfort will send Catra bolting. 

There’s nothing to do but sleep. She’s confident she’ll wake up if Catra actually tries to murder her, and at the same time pretty certain that won’t happen. With Catra’s familiar warmth by her feet, she falls asleep faster than she has since she first picked up the sword. 

* * *

When Adora wakes up, the portion of the bed where Catra was curled up is empty and cold. Catra’s still the only person sneaky enough to leave the room without waking Adora, and Adora tries to focus on that, on the familiarity of it, rather than on the fact that Catra’s gone. 

It doesn’t feel like an ending, this time, and for now it’s enough. 


End file.
